Snapshots
by ficdirectory
Summary: A picture's worth a thousand words.  Written for crimeland's screencap challenge.  Spoilers for seasons 3-6.


**Children of the Dark:**

When there is time to breathe, JJ takes it. No question.

Too many times, she sees cases like these work out badly. And in her mind, today's case is worse than most. She cannot imagine the torture these kids have endured. She cannot imagine being the sole survivor of a family annihilation…

But she does know what it feels like to be a living child, with a dead sibling. She knows what it's like to feel like life will never be the same.

It never is.

**Penelope:**

Emily knows when she sits beside JJ in the waiting room that she has been here longer than anyone else.

This isn't a case. This isn't just a coworker. Garcia is their friend. It doesn't look good. And if they lose her, they are all going to need each other in the aftermath.

So, even though Emily is not typically a touchy feely person, she reaches out awkwardly. First, grasping JJ's wrist, and then, finally, squeezing her hand. Their gazes never meet, but still, they are connected.

This is important. This is family. For a long time they sit like that, side by side.

Eventually, JJ leans into Emily just a little.

Neither speaks, but they are both wishing for the same thing. They are both thinking about Penelope.

**Masterpiece:**

It isn't every day that an unsub turns himself in. Speaking with this one reminds Reid of the last time someone sought him out. Two years ago, a kid named Nathan found him on his way to work. That hadn't ended up well. But perhaps it was because Reid had been drawn to something else in Nathan. The broken parts. The darkness. The sadness.

In this man, there is intelligence. Reid suspects he is brilliant. A brilliant mind was like an endless puzzle, but once the pieces started coming together, it began to make sense.

Reid loves a good puzzle.

So, he engages the unsub. Reid keeps him talking, and mentally files away every single word he spoke, just like Rossi asked.

**Nameless, Faceless**

Derek can't help but think that if his credentials hadn't been taken, they wouldn't be in this mess. It's an easy connection to make. It's always been easy to blame himself. Easier than admitting there was ever a time that Derek wasn't in control.

Emily reads him like a book.

She tells him none of this is his fault, and Derek nods along. Says he knows. Foyet gets off on watching people fall apart. They all know that. But as he watches Haley and Jack leave the hospital, Derek can't shake the chill that falls on him suddenly.

He has a feeling in his gut. Just knows somehow that this one isn't going to end well.

Taking a deep breath, he shakes his head.

He hopes to God he's wrong.

**100**

Strauss obviously does not know it, but reconciling an adequate account of what happened is exactly what JJ wants, too. Which is why she has made the decision to focus on the facts. On stating what happened as succinctly as she can, so that there is no room for doubt.

Strauss wasn't there that day. She didn't see what they all saw. Strauss didn't know what it was like to hear a friend murdered over the phone. She didn't know what it was like to carry that friend's shaking child out of the scene of the crime.

Strauss could not handle stepping on the hair of a murder victim she didn't even know.

How on earth would she handle something like this?

**Devil's Night:**

Hotch is scared to admit it, but sometimes, he is able to find the tiniest silver lining in the large looming cloud that was losing Haley. Don't misunderstand. He wishes every day he was able to arrive in time to save her. He wishes every day that Jack still had his mother. That neither one of them had the scars they carry from that day.

Still, he can't help thinking that if events in his life had not forced him to slow down. To take time. To get to know his son. Hotch might not have ever gotten the chance to talk about Halloween costume ideas and cookies, and look at this holiday through the eyes of his child.

**Corazon:**

If walls could talk…

The statement is just there in his head when he walks through the Florida neighborhood and stares at the house. Reid isn't sure what draws his gaze to it in the first place. But he can't look away.

The lingering headache is still here. Worse in the sunlight. Worse in the loud places. Worse now. He replaces the glasses and keeps walking.

He thinks of JJ and wonders if she is somewhere thinking of him. So far, she is the only one who knows about this. The only one she trusts. The only drawback, of course, is that she isn't here to talk it over with.

Phone calls are okay, but not the same.

But, if Reid is honest, nothing is.

**Hanley Waters:**

Even after the unsub is brought out, Ashley can't stop holding her breath.

It's only been weeks since Prentiss died. Everyone else is going to private sessions with Hotch to process their grief so that he can report back to Strauss. So far, Ashley hasn't gotten one. At first, she wasn't sure she needed it, and then, when she spent subsequent nights jerking awake at the sound of a gunshot blast, sure she was splattered in someone else's blood…well…let's just say Ashley is having second thoughts.

Still, what is she supposed to say?

That she is terrified? That if she loses sight of another member of her team, she might lose them forever?

Hotch comes back out. Everything is okay. But Ashley still cannot fill the hole inside her.

**The Stranger:**

Garcia thought nothing could be better than joining her cohorts for a night on the town. That was before Seaver and Reid put their heads together and decided to go to see the scariest movie she had ever seen in her life.

Garcia knows what she can handle. And graphic violence, however fake, is not Garcia's idea of fun. Fun is hanging out with friends who got her. Who understood what made her tick. What got her excited.

Emily and JJ always knew when to tease and when to back off. They always knew, coffee, drinks, or shopping. Definitely not creepy films like Slasher VI.

Sighing, Garcia slides her arm through Derek's. She can't change the loss of friends she loves, but she definitely can enjoy the ones she has.

**Out of the Light:**

Rossi loads a cooler full of orange slices. Then, he fills his biggest thermos with ice-cold water. The drive to the field is peaceful, and he is happy to have something to do on a Saturday.

Hotch spots him first and waves him over.

"Guys, this is-"

"Rossi!" Jack screams and runs to him.

"Hey, kiddo!" Rossi returns, giving Jack a squeeze.

"This is a friend of mine. Coach Rossi. He's going to help out today, okay?"

A cheer goes up, and Rossi is feeling pretty good about himself and what he can bring to the team. Then, he feels a tug on the hem of his shirt.

"What did you bring for snack, Coach?" a little girl asks.

Rossi smiles.

Six-year-olds always keep things in perspective.


End file.
